It still isn’t very pretty, but .029 sure looks a lot better than .000 for Chris Carter.
After beginning his career in a brutal 0-for-33 slump that included 13 strikeouts, Carter finally delivered his first hit last night with a sharp single to left field off White Sox reliever Scott Linebrink. And then the A’s immediately removed him from the game for a pinch-runner.
Carter described getting his first hit as “the best feeling ever” and his run actually proved to be the game-winner for the A’s, as pinch-runner Gabe Gross scored to break a 0-0 tie in the seventh inning and Oakland went on to win 3-0.
Last night was actually Carter’s first home game, which means he’s 0-for-32 on the road and 1-for-2 in Oakland. “I feel like part of the team,” Carter told Alex Espinoza of MLB.com. “It started getting kind of stressful, but I got the monkey off my back and hopefully this gets me going.”
Carter’s hitless streak was the longest to begin a career since Vic Harris went 0-for-36 in 1972. It’ll take a while for his overall numbers to cease being hideous, but Carter batted .284/.380/.540 with 149 homers in 673 games as a minor leaguer and the 6-foot-5, 240-pound first baseman/left fielder is one of the best power-hitting prospects in baseball.

10,090 on hand to see it, but all standing and applauding by way of encouragement. The A’s have been back to playing reasonably well lately, the 2/3 from Minnesota demonstrated that the team is not quitting, even with it’s modified River Cats lineup. Everybody else is doing that also. The good Gio showed up last night, with the sharp curve, and low 90’s fastball. His last start the curve was rolling and he consequently got hit hard. And Kurt Suzuki was controlling his swing last night, trying for line drives instead oh home run # 13. And only 4 months too late…